Eco-city has now clustered more than 1,000 internet enterprises. 

MOMO is a mobile social internet enterprise that was listed on Nasdaq in 2014. In 2017, MOMO paid tax of 500 million yuan, the highest amount of annual tax paid by any enterprise in Eco-city. 

“Our headquarters is in Beijing. Our branch company in Eco-city is convenient for transportation and Eco-city gave us a lot of support in tax and office rental relief. Additionally, the commercial department of the Eco-city arranged shuttle buses for our staff on the night shift, providing great convenience for us,” said Zhao Hong, the administration manager of MOMO’s branch company in Tianjin. Zhao believes that Eco-city’s convenient environment and favorable policies are the key factors attracting enterprises to settle down there.    

In addition to MOMO, ride-sharing platform DiDi Chuxing also invested 10 billion yuan to register in Eco-city, and has the most paid-up registered capital of any enterprise there. Renrenche, an online used car dealer with more than 1,100 employees has the largest number of staff in Eco-city. 

Eco-city has gathered some large and leading internet enterprises, including Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, JD, Meituan, Xunlei and Baofeng, among its more than 1,000 tenants. In 2017, the number of Eco-city’s internet enterprises increased 46 percent and tax revenue rose by 67 percent. Internet industries have become a new power driving Eco-city’s economic growth. 

Li Yuanqing, an Eco-city deputy sector chief, said that Eco-city has formed a clear layout of the internet industry by planning. “For example, we focus on developing internet + technology service in the Eco-city’s science park; we highlight the internet + information technology industry in its information park; we prioritize development of the internet + intelligent hardware industry in Eco-city’s northern industrial district and we have also built a life science park there.”

Now, Eco-city is a soft environment for the layout of the internet industry, support and cultivation of small and medium-sized enterprises and construction of systems. It has established a number of innovative platforms such as the Tianjin Electronic Information Research Institute of Tsinghua University, an incubator for big data and Starry Sky innovative space. Eco-city has made a lot of effort to promote the development of internet and technology-focused enterprises. For example, it formulated temporary measures to promote scientific and technological innovation, set up a special support fund, drew up a complete talent introduction mechanism and improved supporting facilities.

Li said that Eco-city’s next step will be to further strengthen the advantages of the internet industry and cultivate new growth points in e-business, online videos and online games. What’s more, it will emphasize application of its internet + strategy, integrating and developing technological innovation industries in life science, information technology, big data, artificial intelligence and technological services.